Shattered
by OfTheOlives
Summary: Clare knew that Eli and Fitz hated each other. She knew they got into fights constantly. What she didn't know was just how far their fighting would go, and how it would affect their lives.
1. Chapter 1

Clare walked up to Degrassi and sat on the front steps, as she did every morning, waiting for Ali. She watched as students walked by, catching the ends of conversations, but nothing that really peaked her interest. She heard KC's name come up a few times, but never heard enough of the conversation to hear what had happened, but honestly, she didn't really care. After KC had dumped her for Jenna, her best friend at the time, she lost all interest in him. She let her mind wander, thinking back to all that had happened last year, when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up and saw Ali's familiar shape and jumped up.

She went up to Ali, and gave her a hug. "Good morning"

"Morning" Ali replied, and they both walked up the stairs into the school.

"So how's your morning been?" Ali asked Clare when they got to her locker.

"It's been fine, nothing really exciting about it though" Clare said, than quickly remembered the conversations she'd heard that morning about her ex.

"Hey Ali, have you heard anything that might've happened with KC?"

"Of course I have! It's all over the school!"

"Well, I haven't heard anything about it. What happened?"

Ali quickly filled Clare in on how KC had gotten Jenna pregnant, her denial, and how he'd dumped her to raise it alone after he found out abortion was out of the question.

"And he left her? Just like that? How could he do that?" Clare asked, completely shocked. She knew KC could be a bad guy, but she didn't think even he could be so low to do something like that.

"I don't know. He's just an idiot Clare."

"Yeah, tell me about it. But wait, how do we even know that this isn't just some rumor?"

"Owen was around the corner listening to their whole argument. He told Bianca, and she confronted Jenna in front of a bunch of people. Jenna admitted it."

"Wow. How did I ever date him?"

"I have no clue."

They kept talking about what a complete moron KC was, until Ali got a text.

"Hey, Clare, is it cool if he hang out later? I just got a text from Drew. He says he wants me to meet him at the Dot before classes start"

"Yeah sure, go ahead" Clare said.

Clare was walking down the hall towards her locker, when she heard a loud slam from across the hall. She looked up to where they'd heard the noise to see Eli and Fitz fighting, Fitz having clearly just smashed Eli into a locker. "Eli!" Clare exclaimed, running up to where the two were fighting. She moved to pull them apart, screaming at them both to stop, when Fitz punched Eli in the face, giving Eli a bloody lip. Clare started crying, and a group of bystanders started gathering as she tried to get the Eli to stop fighting; pulling him, yelling at him, pleading, even threatening him, but nothing worked. The boys were furious, and it seemed as though nothing could get them to stop fighting.

Suddenly, one of the boys was grabbed by the other and slammed head-on into a window, shattering it and knocking the boy unconscious. More people, hearing the shattering glass, and the shriek escaping Clare's lips as the boy hit the floor, quickly gathered around to see who it had been.


	2. Chapter 2

Blood was now streaming from the boy's head as he lay on the floor. Clare was at his side, holding her hand to his head. She wanted to help him, but she didn't know what she could do. She held her shirt to the wound, trying to slow the bleeding, but it just soaked right through. She wanted so badly to run for help, but she couldn't leave the boy here. _What if something happened? What if the bleeding got heavier?_ She knew that not one of the students in the group would help.

With that thought, she looked up at the group to see if they would prove her wrong. Wishing so badly that at least one of them would. Maybe someone would help. But of course, out of the group of at least 25 students staring down at the scene, not one of them doing anything to help. She knew if one of her friends were here, they'd help. But they weren't. Not one of them. Clare was surrounded by students, anywhere from grade 9 to 12, and had no clue who any of them were. All she knew was that they were heartless and cruel, and she hated each and every one of them instantly. Who could just stand there and do nothing in a situation like this?

She looked at them all in desperation, her voice lost, and her tear-filled eyes begging for any kind of assistance. But no one tried to help. No one called 9-1-1. No one did anything but stare back. Clare was bawling her eyes out.

She found her voice, and spoke; lifting her head up so she was facing the ceiling, with the tears streaming down her face, she shut her eyes and said, at first very gently

"Please, God, don't let him die. Please." She began shouting

"Don't let him die! He doesn't deserve to die! Someone, HELP!"

She lowered her head, and yelled again

"HELP! PLEASE!"

But no one did anything. Clare's depressive state quickly turned into anger when people just backed away, a few actually leaving down the hall or out of the school.

She started screaming again, for someone to do ANYTHING, when she noticed Principal Simpson running as fast as he could toward the group. He pushed his way through the students who'd been blocking his view of the situation, and when he saw the boy lying on the ground in what was becoming a pool of blood, he was shocked, then quickly sent into a panic attack.

"Oh god! What the hell, how did this happen?" he yelled, though no one answered. The boy had fled the school as soon as the group had started to form, so not many of the people actually knew what had happened. He turned to look at Clare who was still desperately trying, and failing, to stop the bleeding, and by the absolutely disturbed and horrified expression on her face, he had a good idea of what had happened.

When he looked down at the boy, he noticed his face was pale. More pale than usual. Panic struck through him. Terrified, he knelt down and rested his ear on the boy's chest, checking for a sign of a pulse. He was relieved when the sound of heartbeat flowed through his ear, but after looking up and seeing all the blood that surrounded the boy it quickly brought all the panic back. He jumped up, and yelled at everyone to listen to him.

"I'm going to call 9-1-1, everyone, give him some space, and go on with your normal schedules. Class has already started. Despite the event that just occurred, your teachers will still be expecting you!" he said, before turning to Clare. He rested a hand on her shoulder, and gently said "Clare, I know I can trust you. I'm going to need you to stay here with him while I go into my office and call an ambulance. Call me if anything happens."

And with that, he ran down the hall, leaving Clare with the unconscious boy, sitting in his blood.


	3. Chapter 3

_No.. no, this isn't happening. It can't be. This is all just a vivid nightmare, and you're going to wake up any minute. Just close your eyes, and when you wake up, you'll be in your cozy bed at home._

But when Clare opened her eyes, she saw that this was the furthest thing from a dream. She looked at the empty hallway on either side of her. She looked at the blood on her shirt and hands. Then she looked down at the boy and broke down. She stumbled back until she hit the wall, and her body slid down to the floor as she bawled her eyes out.

_How could he be so cruel? I knew their fights were bad, but I never EVER expected him to pull something like this! How could he leave, knowing he could've killed someone? IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! I just don't understand…_

Clare looked up just as Principal Simpson walked out of his office and started down the hall, back towards her. When he got to her side, he stood and stared down at the boy, sadness and shame taking over him. He turned to Clare and she couldn't help but notice how his voice cracked as he said

"The ambulance is on its way. They should be here in about 5 minutes."

"Um, o-okay" Clare stuttered, trying to recover from her meltdown.

"Clare, could you explain to me what happened?"

Clare hesitated and tried her best to calm herself down. She shut her eyes and let the words pour from her mouth.

"I was walking with Ali, and I saw them fighting, and I tried to get them to stop I swear, and nothing worked! Then he just grabbed him and smashed him into the window, and then he ran away, and now... I should've tried harder to get them to stop fighting! I'm sorry! It's my fault! I—"

"Clare, this isn't in ANY way your fault. I know how these boys can get. I've seen fights go ever further than this. Nothing you could've done would've stopped them. Don't put that on your shoulders Clare. you were the only one who helped."

"…Okay" Clare whispered, and the two sat in silence. Clare curled into the fetal position, putting her head in her knees, as her mind once again filled with questions she knew she couldn't answer.

Then she heard it; the faint sound of sirens, making their way closer to the school. Within a minute she saw the ambulance pulling up in front of the doors, and the paramedics running out. One ran into the building immediately, while the other ran around back to set up the stretcher that the boy would soon be placed in. The man in the building ran instantly to the boy, checking the wounds, checking his pulse, and looking for anything else that could be wrong with him. When he didn't find anything, he turned to Principal Simpson and told him the situation. Clare hadn't heard what he'd said; she'd only seen Principal Simpson nod afterwards.

The other paramedic came in and whispered to the first. They went back and forth like that for a bit, and then both looked at the boy, before turning back to Principal Simpson. The first paramedic spoke to him.

"Have you called the boy's parents?"

"No, I haven't. I wasn't sure if I should, or if it would be better for you guys to. I wrote the number for his parents down here… " Principal Simpson said, before pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handing it to the paramedic.

"Okay, thank you. Now I need you to answer one thing for me."

"Okay" Principal Simpson responded

The paramedic took a step over and pointed to the boy. "What's his name?"

**Disclaimer: I Don't own Degrassi! duuuh ;P**

**I just realized how to make author notes. Its a lot less complex than I thought it would be XD  
So I'm gonna try to update as much as possible, but I do have school and other things, so at the least it would be once a week...  
DONT HATE ME! XD **

**I hope you guys are liking the story. It's my first fanfic, so send me suggestions and stuff :)  
& review~!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Mark Fitzgerald. I have his medical records and contact information in my office. Do you need that?"

"No, the hospital carries all that information already."

"Okay…"

"Alright sir, you've been very helpful. I think we can handle the situation from here, I'll contact you if we need your help," Then he turned and glanced at Clare while saying "and I'm so sorry."

And with that, he rushed to help the other paramedic, who had carried the stretcher up the steps already, and moved to help him get it through the door. Clare watched as they both placed Fitz onto the stretcher and gently lifted it down, putting him in the back of the ambulance. The two men jumped into the ambulance, and it sped out of the parking lot.

After a minute of still silence, Principal Simpson took a deep breath and sighed heavily. Clare saw him looking at the blood stains on the wall and the floor. But when he looked over at the blood that covered Clare's clothing, her eyes met with his. He walked towards her; she could see that he wanted to console her, but that he didn't know how. Instead, he held his tongue, and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Clare, I know you explained what happened to me already, but for me to do anything, I need you to actually name the person who did this to Mark. It's silly, I know, but it's the board's policy."

Clare hesitated a second, before saying "Eli… Elijah Goldsworthy"

When she spoke those words, everything came crashing down, again. She felt tears rimming her eyes, and her hands began quivering. She couldn't believe that Eli… her Eli, had done something so cruel, so horrible! She began breathing harder, her heart beating faster.

Principal Simpson, not noticing her panic, said "We have extra clothes in the main office if you want to find something you can change into."

She tried to keep her voice steady, responding "No… I- I can change at my house. I'm… I'm going to go home now."

"Are you sure?"

Clare just nodded.

"Alright uh, well I'm going to have to call your parents before you leave. I'm sorry, but you can't leave school grounds without parental consent. Alright?"

Clare didn't listen to Principal Simpson's words, though. She stood up and very slowly began to walk towards the doors.

"Clare?"

Once again, Clare ignored Principal Simpson as she pushed the front doors open, and began walking a bit faster.

"Clare!"

Now Clare ran. She ran down the steps and off the school grounds. She didn't know where she was going, but she couldn't stay in that school anymore. She ran as fast as she could, tears streaming down her face so hard she could barely even see past them. She tripped a lot and even fell a few times, but she kept going. She wanted to run to a place where she could just think. A place where she wouldn't see anyone she knew; where she could be alone. She needed that place desperately, and didn't let herself think about anything else. Not the concerned looks she was getting, or how worried her parents would be when she wasn't home for dinner.

After at least 20 minutes of running without one break, Clare, completely exhausted, found herself at a park. Perfect. There was no one else there she could see, there was so much space, and it enclosed by trees. She found a shady tree in a more secluded area of the park and collapsed. Gasping for air, and probably thirstier than she'd ever been in her life, Clare just let go. Everything she was holding in about all that had happened today, she threw out of her system with tears and screams.

_Why? Why did this all have to happen! Everything started out so normal, why couldn't it have stayed like that! It's not fair! How could Eli do this! What the heck is wrong with him! I hate him! I never want to see him again! How could he just leave! He could've killed Fitz! _

Clare's mind repeated the questions over and over, adding new ones every now and then, she began driving herself mad. She never wanted to see Elijah Goldsworthy again. Never had she seen anyone do something so cruel in her life!

She continued to scream and bawl her eyes out for a few more minutes, before she heard slow but steady footprints. She didn't bother looking up, hoping the person would just leave her alone. She didn't want to see anyone right now, not after her morning.

She lay still for a minute or so, seeing if the person would think she'd calmed down or fallen asleep and leave, but they didn't budge. She could feel them standing there, staring at her. They didn't say a word, and made no sound, but Clare felt their presence. She tried her hardest not to look up at the person, but the longer they stood there, the more impatient she grew. She wanted to tell them to go away, to just leave her alone, but didn't want them to see how horrible she looked. She knew that she'd have puffy red eyes, a runny nose, and makeup smears all over the place, in addition to the blood on her shirt. So with her head still towards the ground, she spoke softly, but sternly,

"I'm sorry, but please, could you go away. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. I'm fine, just please leave."

But the person made no sign of movement.

Finally, after a minute or so, when the person kneeled down next to Clare, curiosity, mixed with anger got the better half of her, and she looked up at the person ready to yell at them. But when her eyes met with theirs, she lost her voice. She felt her face instantly pale and her skin grew cold. Tears welled in her eyes again and she got angrier with each passing second as she stared face to face with the person she'd wanted to see the least right now. The person whose eyes had once made her melt with joy every time they looked into hers, but noww just made her blood boil with fury and betrayal. The person she hated the most right now.

Eli.

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**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Degrassi. just this story :)**

**Soo, who guessed it was Fitz? ;) leave a review of what you thought!  
**

**I hope you guys are liking the story so far!**

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